WASHINGTON – In the days leading up to the January 6 riot, Thomas Edward Caldwell, an apparent leader of the far-right Oath Keepers, gave a message to militia members he had organized to mobilize against Congress: “This kettle is set to boil. “
Court documents opened on Tuesday said Caldwell, a 66-year-old man from rural Virginia, advised others on December 31: “It really starts on January 5 and 6 in Washington DC, when we mobilized on the streets. Let them try to certify some trash on Capitol Hill with a million or more patriots on the streets. “
Caldwell and two Ohio associates – Donovan Crowl, 50, and Jessica Watkins, 38 – were charged with conspiracy to commit federal crimes. All three admitted to breaking into the Capitol for reporters and were also identified in videos posted on social media.
The case revealed the first evidence of planning among a well-known militia group before the day of the mob’s chaotic violence. Investigators said they are increasingly focusing on right-wing extremist groups to determine if there is any planned aspect of the attack on the Capitol in advance, even when most protesters attacked it spontaneously.
Mr. Caldwell advised militia members to stay at a specific Comfort Inn in the suburbs of Washington, according to messages quoted in court documents, stating that it offered a good base for “hunting at night” – apparently meaning looking for leftists in the antifa-style protesters to fight. Mrs. Watkins apparently rented a room with a false name, said an FBI agent.
Caldwell appeared virtually in federal court in Virginia on Tuesday, promising to fight charges against him. In arguing for bail, Caldwell pointed to his age, as well as underlying medical problems and the threat of the coronavirus, noting that he trusted a machine at night to help with sleep apnea. A judge refused the request.
Federal investigators also retrieved audio recordings of Ms. Watkins’ voice during the tumult of the Zello cellphone application, which functions as a walkie-talkie, speaking to others considered Oath Keepers. “We have a good group,” she said at the start of the riot, according to the indictment. “We have about 30-40 of us. We are staying together and following the plan. “An unknown man replied,” See you soon, Jess. Up in the air. “
An unidentified man later said: “You are executing a citizen’s arrest. Attach this assembly; we have probable cause for acts of treason, electoral fraud. ”Ms. Watkins replied that she and others were under the main capitol of the Capitol, and another unknown male voice encouraged her to continue, saying that was what they“ trained ”for.
The group they are accused of being part of, the Oath Keepers, is a far-right militia-style organization founded by military and law enforcement veterans who profess to believe that an obscure globalist cabal is conspiring to take away the rights of Americans.
The prosecution of documents against the trio noted that amidst the generally chaotic scene when the crowd began to invade the Capitol, a group dressed in paramilitary clothes and Oath Keepers paraphernalia stood out for its coordination. In a video, about 10 Oath Keepers in helmets “move in an organized and practical way and force their way to the front of the crowd gathered around a door of the United States Capitol.”
Scenes of people with military training marching shoulder to shoulder appalled Pentagon leaders, who fear that weapons and tactical training previously provided by the armed forces have been co-opted. At least 12 members of the National Guard have been stripped of tenure-related functions, two of them for possible links to extremist right-wing movements, Defense Department officials said on Tuesday.
Other prisoners in the riots were linked to the Oath Keepers, although they were not charged with being part of an organized conspiracy.
At a Texas hearing last week for Larry Brock, who was photographed in the Senate carrying flexible handcuffs, a prosecutor quoted a Facebook post linking him to the Oath Keepers. Mr. Brock, a retired Air Force officer, told The New Yorker that he had found the flexible handcuffs on the ground and did not intend to use them.
And a criminal complaint filed on Saturday against Jon Ryan Schaffer, a guitarist in the heavy metal band Iced Earth, accused of being among the rioters who sprayed the Capitol Police with “bear spray”, said he had long held “views” far-right extremists “and suggested that he is a member of the Oath Keepers.
The Oath Keepers – named for members’ professed intention to keep their oaths to protect the constitution – do not have a geographical center, with sections spread across Oregon, Montana, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Ohio, New York and elsewhere. Part of its ideology overlaps with the so-called Three Percenters, another paramilitary-style right-wing movement that seeks to attract veterans.
Oath Keepers have a more formal structure, including status and fees. Although the organization claims to have about 35,000 members, the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks extremist groups, estimated several years ago that its membership is more than several thousand.
The organization was founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, 55, a disenfranchised Montana lawyer who studied at Yale Law School and previously served as an aide to former Congressman Ron Paul, the Texas libertarian. Its members tend to anticipate a new civil war that is approaching.
“It was motivated by the perception that the federal government was tyrannical and that every day Americans needed to be ready to resist that tyrannical government when it came along,” said Sam Jackson, who published a book about the organization last year and is a professor at the University of Albany, specializing in internal security issues.
The Oath Keepers were involved in clashes with the federal government over land issues in the West, including the confrontation between the Bundy family and the federal government in Oregon in 2014.
And during that year’s unrest following the death of a black man by the police in Ferguson, Missouri, heavily armed Oath Keepers patrolled the streets and claimed to protect businesses, but discontinued after criticism from local officials.
The group was also among those who sent armed guards to patrol the border with Mexico or promoted these efforts by others.
In the weeks leading up to the Capitol attack, Oath Keepers issued calls for action. Shortly after the election, a long message attributed to Mr. Rhodes circulated on far-right websites asking for volunteers to meet in Washington for a “Stop the Steal” rally. Oath Keepers, he said, would provide security, including “some of our most skilled, armed, special war veterans outside of DC”
Although the participants were instructed to remain disciplined, the message also included what they described as advice from an unidentified “Serbian patriot”, who said in a speech transcript that Americans must replicate the uprising in their country 20 years ago, who deposed Slobodan Milosevic:
“Millions gathered in our capital. There were no barricades strong enough to stop them, nor were the police determined enough to stop them. Police and military allied with the people after a few hours of fighting. We invaded Parliament. And it burned fake state television! WE WON!”
When plans were announced for a major demonstration on January 6, the pleas of the Oath Keepers had taken on a tone of urgency. An appeal to volunteers framed the event as the last chance to help “President Trump’s struggle to defeat foreign and domestic enemies who are attempting a coup.”
Followers were encouraged to “prepare for whatever happens. Prepare your mind, body and spirit for battle and, above all, prepare to BE! “
Mr. Rhodes was in Washington on January 6 – a distinguished figure with an eye patch because he lost an eye in a firearm accident. He is not believed to have entered the Capitol.
Billing documents state that Caldwell “has a leading role” in the group. Although Crowl called him “Commander” in a message quoted in court documents, his exact role remains unclear.
Mr. Caldwell, however, seemed to think that Mr. Rhodes was doing very little to organize the day. “I don’t know if Stewie got his call to arms, but it’s a little too late,” he wrote to Crowl, according to court documents. “This is one that we are doing on our own. Let’s connect with the North Carolina team. “
Other indictment documents identified Ms. Watkins, a bartender from Champaign, Ohio, who was arrested on Monday for being affiliated with the Oath Keepers. She said at the top of her Parler account, a social media network that attracted right-wing followers, who is the commander of the “Ohio State Regular Militia”, which the complaint identified as “a local militia organization that is a Oath Keepers bond paying subset. ”
The FBI identified Crowl, also from Champaign County, as a member of the same Ohio militia.
The FBI testimony against the three described several sightings of them on video of the Capitol riot and their own social media posts bragging about breaking into the building.
For example, the indictment said, Mr. Caldwell sent a photo of the riot that night to someone on Facebook Messenger, adding, “We are breaking into the castle” and “I am an instigator!” He also wrote: “We need to do this at the local level. We are going to invade the Capitol in Ohio. Tell me when! “
A search of Mrs. Watkins’ home after the rebellion – she was not there, and investigators cited evidence that she and Mr. Crowl had gone to stay with Mr. Caldwell – revealed paramilitary equipment like the one used in the rebellion and instructions for build a bomb using bleach as the main ingredient, said the indictment.
Other well-known defendants in the attack on the Capitol were released on Tuesday pending trial in a series of five-hour hearings in Washington. Most were accused of misdemeanors and federal prosecutors did not seek to keep them in detention.
Among the freed were Adam Johnson, 36, from Florida, accused of stealing the pulpit of spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, and Josiah Colt, 34, from Idaho, who was filmed in a viral image hanging on a balcony of the camera. of the Senate.
Two Virginia police officers accused of breaking into the Capitol, Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson, were released pending trial.
The report was contributed by Alan Feuer, Mike McIntire, Rebecca Ruiz, Ben Protess and William K. Rashbaum.